AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Hits New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$40.30 and last traded at C$40.36, with a volume of 192597 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$40.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. CIBC increased their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$39.56.

AltaGas Price Performance

The company has a market cap of C$12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50-day simple moving average is C$37.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$35.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 7th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share for the quarter. AltaGas had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.04%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. This is an increase from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.98%.

Insider Activity at AltaGas

In other news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 92,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$39.19, for a total value of C$3,605,480.00. Also, Director Peter James Ledig sold 25,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$38.35, for a total transaction of C$966,420.00. Insiders have sold 398,414 shares of company stock valued at $15,302,227 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

AltaGas Company Profile

AltaGas Ltd owns and operates a diversified basket of energy infrastructure businesses. Business is conducted through four segments: Midstream, power, utilities and corporate. Utility business owns and operates rate-regulated natural gas distribution assets across North America. Midstream business subsequent to the sale of non-core midstream assets in Canada and also engaged in the natural gas liquid processing and extraction, transportation, and storage.

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